Germany dismissed Greek demands to pay World War II reparations after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused Berlin of using legal tricks to avoid compensating Greece for the Nazi occupation of his country.

Two hundred years after Napoleon's ambitions to rule Europe died at Waterloo, France won a small battle yesterday (11 February) to prevent the minting of a euro coin commemorating an event that shaped today's continent.

Greece's new leftist government and its international creditors failed to agree on a way forward for the country's unpopular bailout programme, and will try again on 16 February, with time running out for a financing deal.